Dean Norbiato is Gearing Up for Kia’s “Biggest Year of Product Launches on Record”

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Fresh off Kia’s major sponsorship of the Australian Open, the auto brand’s general manager of marketing, Dean Norbiato, is thinking about how he’ll keep his “relatively small” marketing team motivated throughout the business’ “biggest year of product launches on record.”

When asked what he’s most fearing in 2025, Dean told LBB it’s “staff motivation levels.”

“Our business is only as good as the product and people pulling the strings, so affording them the necessary support while launching headfirst into our most demanding year, in a changing market, would be one of our biggest challenges on the horizon ahead,” he said.

The task for the year is to “grow the brand in a changing market climate”, and continue to ensure creativity has “the necessary seat at the marketing table.” Dean believes in creativity as a force to grow brands.

“I truly believe it can amplify marketing results well above historic norms and percentages found in textbooks.”

He’s worried about striking a balance of his own this year, between leading a high-performing marketing team through its busiest year of launches and spending time with his young family.

He spent last year watching his little girl Elle experience “her first words, first steps, first full night’s sleep, and her first vomit on my shoulder.” The sleepless nights were difficult, though. “It’s funny, you don’t see that side of parenting as often in the heavily curated personas on social media.”

Being present for further milestones is the thing he’s most looking forward to personally this year.

“It seems each day she learns something new and there is nothing better than sharing those priceless moments,” he said. “Also, spending time with my old man and friends fishing is a huge passion of mine and a great counterbalance to a busy Sydney life.”

Dean joined Kia six years ago, and last year led the launch of Innocean’s campaign, ‘Kia’s Getting a Ute’ to mark its entrance into the highly-competitive category. The star-studded TVC went viral, Dean noted. The 90s film to launch the campaign generated over 20,000 shares in less than a week. The cultural and commercial results “far outstripped our expectations,” he said.

“Seeing a campaign enter the cultural discourse like it did and organically reach talk-back radio, breakfast TV, and set social media alight was tremendous for the Kia brand - and the results backed it up,” he said.

“But as they say, ‘too many pats on the back can put you to sleep’, so dissecting its success and using it to enhance future campaigns was equally important as an outcome. It was a huge motivating factor for our brand to double down on big ideas and creativity as an imperative component of our overall marketing strategy.”

Earlier this month, Kia launched its next big campaign as revealed by LBB: imagining a suburban apocalypse to show off the features of its new electric vehicles range.

Created by Innocean Australia and directed by the renowned Francois Rousselet, the campaign imagines a world overrun by zombies, where features like Smart Park Assist, Kia Voice Command, stealthy quietness, and a cool box ensure survival.

“It’s probably the biggest platform during the year to launch a campaign,” creative directors Nick Cole and Pat Allenby told LBB of timing the launch with the Australian Open. Kia is the tournament’s longest-running major sponsor.